Local Sports

TAMPA — Brandon Saad scored on a power play and Cam Atkinson had a short-handed goal in the third period in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night.

Alexander Wenneberg, Nick Foligno and Josh Anderson also scored to help the Blue Jackets improve to 9-2-2 in their last 13 games and 11-5-3 overall. The loss was only the second for the Lightning (13-8-1) in their last eight games against Columbus.

Prescott accounted for two touchdowns, Elliott ran for a pair of scores and the Cowboys extended their franchise regular-season record with a 10th straight victory, beating the Redskins 31-26 on Thursday.

GAINESVILLE — Florida coach Jim McElwain feels like his team’s been too up and down in two seasons.

Significant victory one week, pedestrian performance the next.

It hasn’t happened too often, but McElwain has seen it enough to know he doesn’t want it to become a trend. So he challenged his players this week to show they’ve grown, ready to better handle success.

That’s the easiest way to describe the Panthers’ performance at home against Mitchell on Tuesday, a game in which they trailed by 15 after one quarter and by 26 at the half, leading to a 63-23 thumping.